1304 The Zoologist— July, 1868. 



Mr. Burmeistcr also mentioned that he had found the larva? of Castnia in the 

 bulbs or swellings at the foot of the stem of Orchids. 



Mr. Edward Sheppard read the following extract from a letter written by 

 Mrs. Russell, of Kenilworth,— the beetle referred to being a Meloe: — 



"An evening or two ago I watched a beetle for an hour in the garden ex- 

 cavating a hole in the earth of one of the beds, big enough to hold its own 

 large long body. It was evidently a female, full of eggs. It bit off little 

 pellets of earth from the rim of its hole aud cast them away with its hind feet, 

 turning itself about in every direction, and working without a moment's cessation. 

 It had very large, thick antenna-, and was plainly a very powerful creature, rolling 

 down pieces of the dry crumbling earth half as big as itself, and not minding them a 

 bit. Next morning I went to see the slate of affairs, and found, to my astonishment, 

 the excavation completely filled up, and smoothed over, as if some one had passed 

 their hand over the finely-powdered soil. Thinking it possible she might have buried 

 herself, I searched the place well with a stick, but there was no trace of her, and 

 I therefore conclude that she had been laying some eggs and covering them up." 



Prof. Westwood gave an account of his observations of Ateuchus sacer at Cannes, 

 and mentioned that during flight the elytra were perfectly horizontal and very slightly 

 open at the suture, so that the motion of the wings was confined within very narrow 

 limits. The actiou of the beetles in rolling along the ground the ball or pellet of dung 

 in which the female deposits her eggs was most curious: with head pressed down and 

 hind feet raised aloft, with its back to the pellet and moving backwards, one beetle 

 pushed and guided the ball with its hind legs, whilst auother beetle clung to the ball, 

 and remaining motionless thereon was rolled over and over with it, sometimes upper- 

 most, sometimes undermost. [See the account of Ateuchus variolosus given by 

 "Ionicus" in 'The Entomological Magazine,' vol. iii. p. 377.] 



Mr. Keays exhibited oak-leaves from Hornsey Wood, which were cut straight 

 across the middle, leaving only the midrib, and the outer halves then twisted and 

 rolled up by Attelabus Curculionoides, with a view to oviposition. 



The Hon. T. De Grey exhibited specimens of Agapauthia Cardui, bred from 

 larvae in stems of thistles. 



Mr. A. G. Butler exhibited Otiorhynchus picipes, which had been found de- 

 structive to rose trees at Manchester, eating off the young shoots. 



Paper read. 

 The following paper was read: — "Descriptions of New Genera and Species of 

 Hcteromera," by Mr. Frederick Bates. Two new genera of Tenebriouidac, from 

 Australia, were characterized under the names of Hypaulax and Chiluone. 



Nciv Part of * Transactions.' 

 Trans. Ent. Soc, third scries, vol. iv., part 5, published iu May, completing that 

 volume, and containing Mr. A. R. Wallace's Catalogue of Malayan Cetoniidae, with 

 four coloured plates, was on the table. — /. W. D. 



